0357 Steel Case SIPs version complete

The cold climate version of the Steel Case House is complete. Design Prints and Construction Prints of the new cold climate version of the Steel Case House are complete. The design now has its own page on our catalog site. The primary change from the original is the replacement of the masonry wall with a SIPs panel wall of the same thickness. This 8" thick SIPs panel greatly raises the average U value of the envelope offsetting the large window area. In northern and mountain climates we may still need to reduce the window area, but along with advanced glazing this provides more options for balancing windows with energy efficiency.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, Steel Case House

Continue reading "0357 Steel Case SIPs version complete"

New name, same great taste!

Years after being introduced the 0242 Deck House gets a new name: The Plat House This design was posted on our site the day it went live in Nov 2002. It was a design I knew we were going to eventually develop into a stock plan so I decided to include a thumbnail sketch on the catalog page. But before I could post it a name had to be given. We did not take much time with it - something obvious - The Deck House! It has lots of deck space so great, that will do. I never really thought it was great, but it worked and so up it went. It also led to the precedent of naming the Porch House after its prominent feature - its screened porch. However early in 2005 in an effort to avoid any confusion with timberframe house manufacturer Deck House llc we have chosen a new name for this design. So to the dictionary and the thesaurus to do a little research. Platform was my first thought - shorten it to "Plat"? I checked the translator, deck from english to italian yeilded "piattaforma" - hmmm, german yielded "plattform". Into the dictionary for "Plat" and found n : a map showing planned or actual features of an area, and the thesaurus turned up Definition: map Synonyms: blueprint, diagram, graph, outline, plan, plat, plot, rough draft, scheme, sketch, table, tabulation I like that. I can live with that.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, Plat House

Continue reading "New name, same great taste!"

6040 House gets a Web Site!

A setback on the site approval but progress on the web site Good News! The official web site for the 6040 House has launched and you can see it right now: site no longer current The site has some interesting features. There is an interactive color picker which works in the same manner as many new car web sites where you can choose a color for various parts of the house and see it update live. There is also a 360 degree interactive model of the house so you can look at it from any angle. I have to clarify after reading some of the comments: I did not create the web site! This was done by a web author working for Northern Steel. I pitched in the artwork of the house, and the 360 piece, but all the rest is their work. And the bad news is our prototype site has fallen through, or more specifically defeated by an unsympathetic HOA. Northern felt it was better to back off than to build bad will with neighbors so we are back to looking for a site. There are several strong leads with potential customers right now so we are not sure if the original prototype will be the first in the ground. We'll see. Continue reading "6040 House gets a Web Site!"